How Long Did It Take You To Build Your Dream Setup?

About 40 years 

Only 2 years with many, many experiments about the embeddings methods ....It was my dreamed set-up in the sense that this is very good sound, one of the best I have heard....But my experience is limited for sure....It is my dream comes true because with low cost electronic components but very good one, vintage or used , I myself create all the controls means to embed them mechanically, electrically and acoustically in an optimal way with only homemade materials or low cost one... The result is astonishing because the ratio price/S.Q is over the roof....( I own a Sansui AU 7700, 200 bucks with new catalytics and a pair of Mission Cyrus 781 ,50 bucks)

To upgrade it with only new speakers and a new amplifier that crush what I already have it will cost me 12,000 thousand (Harbeth+Zotl amplifier)without upgrading the dac that is too good to be true when rightfully embedded (24 dollars on a bet on Ebay miraculously winning) Starting POINT System NOS dac….

I can die with what I listen to right now....The upgrading would be an upgrading but when the music is already there we can live without frustration to upgrade....


The 2 years experiments teach me that heaven is in our own hands and the cost is peanuts …. The Hi-Fi high cost is mostly a marketing myth or an engineering research that we must pay for ....The 3 embeddings with low cost methods is the key of Audio.....

P.S. Before these 2 years of continuous experiments, there is 5 years when I looked for and tried frantically different, speakers, amplifier, dac and headphones....I read and put my faith in the reviewers... That was a mistake....I learned the hard way.... When I decided to takes all that in my hand and forgot about upgrading, I discovered , one by one the secrets of the 3 embeddings....And the same pieces of gear that I was willing to upgrade because I was never satisfied with in the first place transmuted themselves in pure diamond unrecognizable.... Then I discovered that most people really dont even know that the gear they already owns is able to gives in potential S.Q.....They upgrade before even knowing what they afford to buy in the first place.... :)


They dont know the first and sixth law of audio : " dont upgrade before embedding it "
" Dont upgrade before embedding rightfully all of them"

30 years.  Started with Metal Particle IV mix tapes, then Sony Discmans, followed by thrift store Polks&JVC&Pioneer disc changers, then several rounds of pimped out car audio, followed by a dry period of marriage and young kids (no money and garage sale system), then finally just this year got what i'd been wanting since I was 12, an actual hifi system ;). Was still worth it.

It's been a love affair since I was fine tuning the gear in my car back in high school. 
Recently, I decided it was time to go all in and upgrade my system of the last 20+ years (Dynaudio  Confidence 3, Simaudio W5 and P3, Equi-Tek Power Supply) The new system less than 2 hours burn in Paradigm Persona  7F, Pass Labs XA60.8 Mono's, Prima Luna EVO 400 Pre, Lumin D2, Qobuz. I repurpsed the Power Supply and Nordost interconnects and speaker cable from the old system. I will let the amps run continuous for the next five days, but to be honest, I'm already pleased.
It was a ton of research and discussion to get to the point where I felt I had the right components, listening to each independently and reading spec sheets in infenitem. Listening and learning over the years (40+) has been a great deal of fun.

+1. mahgister....Can't always get what you want, but....;)